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"Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen."-Theodore Roosevelt, 1917

"It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people."-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Isaona i tumungo’ ya ha sedi, ki ayo i mismo umisagui hao. Greater is the fault of he who allows the injustice upon himself. "-Chamorro proverb

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves." -Jose Rizal

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights." -Bishop Desmond Tutu

Disclaimer: This is not a legal blog. No opinion or statement should be perceived as legal advice. All posts are the opinion of the author or contributors who are expressing their First Amendment Rights.

Such questionable practices surely do not reflect the standards that qualify a company to be considered a legitimate businesses in the eyes of USCIS. Perhaps that may be why over 500 CW petitions have been denied by the federal immigration agency.

Apparently Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd. (HKE), the owner of the Tinian Dynasty informed the foreign employees early in December 2014 that all the CW-1 petitions had been denied because of the pending criminal case. Confusion concerning an agreement to transfer ownership of the casino and hotel to Mega Stara, a CNMI corporation may have also led to the permit denials.

The three defendants, Patel, Zhong and Hossain have all resided in the CNMI for over a decade – Patel for 11 years , Zhong for 15 years and Hossain for 18 years. They are taxpayers and law abiding de facto citizens.

I cannot access the complaint that was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, but I will post it when it is available.

On Dec. 8, 2014, USCIS denied all HKEs CW-1 petitions.
For employees seeking to renew their CW-1 status, USCIS denied each such petition on the principle grounds that Tinian Dynasty was not an ineligible employer because of the pending criminal case and each employee was ineligible, the complaint told the federal court.

USCIS considered them to be ineligible because, unlike transfer employees, its policy did not allow long-term or short-term employees seeking renewal to continue during the pendency of a timely filed petition if USCIS has not ruled on the employee’s petition prior to expiration of the date appearing on the employee’s I-94 card, the complaint said.

The USCIS position is that each employee seeking to renew employment with HKE had to stop work and “sit idly” by on Tinian from on or about Jan. 2014 until USCIS ruled on their petitions in Dec. 2014, according to the complaint.

In addition to being denied CW-1 status, USCIS stated that plaintiffs and the majority of HKEs foreign contract workers must leave the commonwealth immediately, the complaint said.
None of the denials mention or discuss Mega Stars or the transfer of HKEs ownership, control and management to Mega Stars.

USCIS’ regulations do not allow plaintiffs or any other person seeking CW-1 status with HKE to appeal or otherwise be a party to an administrative appeal based on the denial of the CW-1 petitions submitted by HKE, the complaint said.

USCIS’ regulations do not allow plaintiffs or any other person seeking CW-1 status with HKE to stay the effective date of the denials and the obligation to “immediately” leave the CNMI, the complaint added.

Plaintiffs, each of them, do not have any adequate remedy at law against defendants for the irreparable harm defendants are inflicting on them except for the lawsuit for injunctive and declaratory relief, according to the complaint.

If all of the Tinian Dynasty's 500 plus foreign workers were forced to leave Tinian, the economy would likely crash. There are not enough local people to replace the skilled and loyal foreign workers. The Tinian Dynasty would close and the CNMI Government would lose the tax revenue that the casino and hotel generate.

8
comments:

Anonymous
said...

And the overpaid incompetent Gaming Commission who have been screwing around with the license transfer for over a year(?)have only compounded the problems as legally the new company cannot apply for the workers renewal or transfer to the new company.

On another note I thought that the problems with the Fed's had been settled? Or was there a settlement and Dyasty did not keep up their end?

Wendy,What is your opinion on how this will end up? Will the resort be closed down or do you think it will sit in limbo until the new owner straightens things out with USCIS?I thought this place had a new owner that was pumping money into it, including paying what was owed for backwages, taxes, etc.? Do you think the U.S. Govt. wants to see this place closed permanently?

In regards to Dynasty being closed, I question how it is operating now IF all of the workers have been denied a permit?If all have been denied a permit, aren't they supposed to cease work and leave?Since they all filed a lawsuit does this put everything in "limbo" and allow the denied workers to work?Since the "new owners" legaly do not own the Dynasty there is not much they can do, I assume< until they get the licensed transfered by the useless TGC.But in the worse scenario, I would assume that IF Dynasty did actually close the new owners could reopen upon the transfer of the license.Bt the other problem I could forsee is that under the present USCIS NONE of the current or new "hires" could work upon a new opening under new management until their application is approved?

Another question would be if the current workers cold be "hired" by the new company even though they have been denied work permits renewals under the Dynasty?

No approval no work. if any of the three filling the lawsuit are found to be working unlawfully after being notified of the denial their suit will be tossed and i can see the feds going after them criminally.for unlawful employment seeing as they filed this suit saying they cant work. this lawsuit will open a big can of worms showing how many people.were.working in violation of federal law. nothing good will come of this for dynasty and employees alike.

The PI, Nepal, Bangladesh and China need to fix their social and economic woes. The PI's number one export are Filipinos. Underpaid and overworked and taxed overseas work units. The abuse against workers in the PI makes every other country pale in comparison. Filipinos are often abused physically and economically in the CNMI by other Filipino employers or bosses as they are called. No one seems to notice that dirty little secret.

TDHC employees became victims of unlawful immigration statuses since their CW-1 applications were denied. It is unknown why these workers keep allowed to work by Mega Star. Mega Star filed a lawsuit against feds even though they are not considered “a legitimate employer” by USCIS. Mega Star and employees need help to resolve the immigration issues, So Tinian economy can survive and grow.What is Mr. Kilili doing to help this investor at Tinian? Is there a legal way for these employees to remain and work for Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino or to get transferred to another company in CNMI? Where can these employees receive such relief?